The Middle
East conflict between Arabs and Israelis is a dispute
with many dimensions and variables, all of which affect
the search for a just, lasting and comprehensive
solution. There are political, national, religious,
emotional, social, and economic considerations that
severely complicate the realization of a peaceful
settlement to this century old conflict and no where is
this more important than in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the
most important issue to be resolved in order to achieve
a lasting peace between Arabs and Israelis. Without an
acceptable solution to the Jerusalem issue there will be
no peace in the region.

In my
presentation I will focus on the Palestinian future
vision for Jerusalem. This vision draws its
strength from international resolutions on Jerusalem and
from the conventions of international law. This
vision takes into consideration the many challenges that
face Palestinians in Jerusalem. It has also
developed strategies to counter those illegal Israeli
policies which have and continue to change the
demographic and geographical character of the city in
order to prejudice final status negotiations and
consolidate Israeli sovereignty. These Israeli
actions are not acceptable and must be challenged.

While many may
be skeptical as to ability of the Palestinians to
effectively negotiate with the Israelis on the issue of
Jerusalem, it must be remembered that many other issues
were also once thought of as taboo. Just a few
years ago Israel would never even consider speaking with
the PLO and, likewise, the PLO would never consider
acknowledging Israel. Now we meet frequently and
even cooperate on several issues. Israel's
numerous red lines concerning Palestinian statehood and
rights have begun to soften and soon, Jerusalem, one of
the last untouchables for the Israelis will also be put
on the negotiation table.

Israel is
undisputedly the most powerful country in the Middle
East and, as such, has the difficult task of choosing
between the logic of power or the power of logic. The
first choice, the logic of power, may one day
consolidate Israel's control over Jerusalem and the
Palestinian people but it is only in choosing the power
of logic that will provide Israel and its people with
security, stability and prosperity. I truly hope that
wisdom will prevail in Israel and that the forces of
peace on both sides will triumph in their struggle for a
better future for both Palestinians and Israelis. I
personally hate to think of the dreadful alternative to
the current peace process and sincerely wish that our
efforts will culminate in attaining the desired formula
for a genuine peace in our region.

Here, before
embarking on the Palestinian future vision of Jerusalem,
it is necessary to shed light on some of the Israeli
actions that have transpired in occupied Jerusalem since
1967. Israel has and continues to create facts on
the ground that intend to prejudice any future
arrangements for comprehensive peace. Israel desperately
wants to annex Jerusalem and its holy sites but not its
Palestinian inhabitants. Palestinian Jerusalemites are
not part of the Israeli vision for Jerusalem and the
Israelis have created conditions on the ground that
force us to leave Jerusalem and change our identity as
Palestinians.

But we have
resisted these measures. By fighting to preserve our
identity as a people and our right to live in the City,
we have preserved the Jerusalem as our capital and our
cultural and economic center. This fight has not been
restricted to the inhabitants of Jerusalem but was
joined by all the Palestinians. By the strength of
our solidarity, we have managed to control our religious
sites and institutions, our churches and our mosques.
We have also succeeded in preventing Israel from
imposing its educational curriculum on Palestinian
schools in Jerusalem. After years of stiff
resistance, we managed to keep Palestinian control over
the majority of educational, cultural, health and social
institutions in East Jerusalem, thus preserving the Arab
Palestinian character of the City.

By the same
token, however, it must be said that the Israelis have
also relentlessly continued their policies of settlement
expansion and land confiscation in occupied Jerusalem.
With the construction of the illegal settlement of Har
Homa near Bethlehem, the outer ring of Israeli
settlements has now completely encircled Jerusalem and
new Jewish settlers continue to be brought in from all
over the world to fill them. From 1967 until the
present, the Israeli population in occupied East
Jerusalem has grown from zero to over 180,000. Israel
has also confiscated over 34% of Palestinian lands in
East Jerusalem and left Palestinians with no more than
13% of the land in East Jerusalem for residential
construction.

These Israeli
policies change the landscape of Jerusalem and
contribute to the intransigence of the conflict. Israeli
housing units in the dozens of illegal settlements
continue to grow by the tens of thousands while
Palestinians only build in the hundreds. The
reasons for this discrepancy and the current housing
shortage in Palestinian sectors of Jerusalem, lie in the
fact that Israel systemically restricts Palestinian
building through zoning plans and restrictions on
Palestinian building. This has made the building
process for Palestinians both difficult and expensive.
Today, Palestinians are in exceptional need of more
housing in to absorb its natural population growth.
Although the development of Palestinian areas in
Jerusalem is restricted by Israeli policies, the use of
current Palestinian areas has not yet been optimized and
there is room for development. By working to ensure
adequate housing for the growing Palestinian population
in Jerusalem, Palestinian national interests will be
served by raising the population of Palestinians
residing in Jerusalem and by protecting Arab character
of the City.

In the
aftermath of the Oslo Accords, Israel has intensified
its illegal actions to consolidate its control over
occupied Jerusalem. These actions continue in
defiance of countless UN Security Council and General
Assembly Resolutions regarding Jerusalem as well as
numerous international statutes including the Fourth
Geneva Convention. The strangle hold around occupied
Jerusalem is now being tightened through a series of new
Israeli policies intended to marginalize those
Palestinians who continue to live in occupied Jerusalem.

The first
policy, the military closure around Jerusalem, was
established in March 1993 and intends to isolate
Jerusalem from the Palestinian Territories. The
military checkpoints prohibit Palestinians from freely
entering the City even for prayer and visiting the holy
sites and has greatly inhibited trade and commerce
between Jerusalem and the other Palestinian Territories.
The closure also sabotages final status negotiations as
it creates a de facto border around Jerusalem. It must
be noted that these borders were established
unilaterally and by force and are a deliberate attempt
to prejudice the negotiations on the borders and status
of Jerusalem.

The second
Israeli policy intends to estrange Palestinians from
their own institutions in eastern Jerusalem. Again in
violation of the D.O.P, new Israeli laws were introduced
banning many Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem and
making their organizational tasks more difficult.
The Orient House has not been spared of this Israeli
aggression. In April of last year, Minister of Internal
Security, issued a closure order on several key offices
in the Orient House. However, despite the limited
success of the Israeli policy in reducing the role of
Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem, the Orient
House as well as the bulk of Palestinian institutions
remain active and have even managed to diversify their
activities to cope with the changing reality.

The third
strategy used by the Israelis intends to isolate
Jerusalem from the international community. This goal is
relentlessly pursued by the Israelis who continually
prevent meetings set up between Palestinian officials
and international representatives in East Jerusalem,
particularly at the Orient House. The purpose of these
actions is to censure the issue of Jerusalem from
political discussions between foreign dignitaries and
officials and inhibit international recognition of
Palestinian rights to Jerusalem.

However, even
while the Israelis try to implement these three circles
of isolation around us, we continue the struggle to
resist the occupation and work hard to minimize their
negative impact on us. In order to counter the
military closure around Jerusalem, the Orient House and
other Palestinian institutions have proposed to begin a
building campaign in those areas around Jerusalem which
are under the status of Area B. Building and
developing Palestinian lands around Jerusalem will help
to contain the expansion of the Israeli settlements and
force Israel to absorb the maximum amount of
Palestinians if they ever attempt to re-expand the
municipal boundaries of Jerusalem.

This building
and development program should be implemented in
conjunction with other building projects in the City of
Jerusalem. Combined these projects aim to
alleviate the acute housing shortage in Palestinian
Jerusalem and develop Palestinian communities and raise
the standard of living. The housing program also
includes renovations and restoration of existing
Palestinian homes. These renovation programs will
be focused especially on the Old City Jerusalem and its
environs which have been the target of Jewish settler
groups. These renovations will greatly help to
thwart the attempts of these organizations to illegally
seize Palestinian properties.

The protection
and development of Palestinian organization in Jerusalem
is also vital to creating a viable Palestinian
Jerusalem. These organizations supply Palestinian people
with vital services in education, health, social
programs and protection of their human rights. In
order to counter the Israeli attempts to close
Palestinian institutions, the Orient House has begun
initiatives to support and develop the performance and
security of these institutions. By raising funds to
cover the running costs of Palestinian organizations,
the Orient House hopes to become a source of strength
for Palestinian civil society in Jerusalem.

In order to
raise the necessary funds, the Orient House aspires to
raise over $200 million in order to support Palestinian
institutions in the areas of health, culture, education,
and social services. Sandouk Beit Almal (the
Jerusalem Fund), a committee established to facilitate
development programs in Jerusalem, will be the leading
organization in this initiative. A new fund
raising program called "Buy Time in Jerusalem"
will also be established in order to solicit funds from
both Arab countries and private donors. As every
minute spent in historic Jerusalem is priceless, we
believe this program will successful and supply our
initiative to develop Jerusalem with the funds and the
resources necessary to realize our vision for Jerusalem.

The diplomatic
and international isolation caused by the Israelis will
also be countered through the support of Palestinian
institutions. The Orient House remains committed
to being the center for Palestinian foreign relations in
Jerusalem and, besides maintaining diplomatic contacts
with the foreign consulates, the Orient House is
developing ideas to harness the potential of the
commercial and tourist industry. We want to
encourage religious institutions, including Christian
pilgrimage tours to Jerusalem, to use Palestinian
tourist agencies, stay in Palestinian run hotels, and
use Palestinian guides as they walk the streets of the
Old City and see the many holy sites.

As for the
difficult task of final status negotiations concerning
Jerusalem, the Palestinian position is very clear.
As stated in the Oslo agreements, the borders for final
status are those that existed on the 4th June 1967 as
defined in UN Resolution 242 and 338. Moreover,
any durable solution on Jerusalem will include
negotiations on all aspects of the whole of Jerusalem
east and west. The negotiations must also
undertake the task of detailing the relations between
the two separate municipalities.

Issues to be
Negotiated During Final Status Negotiations

The
Palestinian voice must and will be heard clearly as we
embark on the final status talks to achieve a just
political solution. As we focus on future
Israeli/Palestinians agreements on Jerusalem there are
four key issues that have been identified as the most
prominent sources of contention for arranging a
comprehensive peace. These are:

1.
Aspirations2.
Security3.
Actions on the ground4. Fears

Regarding the
aspirations of Palestinians and Israelis, it must be
acknowledged that both people regard Jerusalem as vital
to their spiritual and historic identity. For the
Israelis, however, this attachment to Jerusalem is
expressed by achieving physical and demographic
dominance over both the city and its inhabitants. This
expression of Israeli aspirations is not only
provocative but unreasonable and illogical, especially
when considering that Israelis could maintain their
historical links by acquiring a guarantee on freedom of
access to all parts of the City.

In the
discussion of security, we must define the term broadly,
as this definition must include provisions for personal,
national and economic security. Ideally, security
arrangement could be achieved through procedures and
arrangements that are worked out cooperatively between
the two sides. However, as is the case with the military
closure of Jerusalem, the security issue has and
continues to be used by the Israelis as an excuse to
legitimize their control over the City and as a pretext
to annex or confiscate additional Palestinian lands.
We Palestinians, are ready to address the security
concerns of Israelis as long as our security is also
respected. I am confident that a suitable solution
can be worked out by the both sides but the Israelis
must acknowledge that security is a universal right.
There can be no peace as long as illegal Israeli
settlements continue to expand, Palestinian land
continues to be confiscated and Palestinian homes
continue to be demolished. If the Israelis want us
to address their security concerns, ours must also be
met.

The third
issue refers to Israeli actions on the ground that aim
to consolidate Israeli sovereignty on the City.
These actions involve two main strategies. One is
to raise the Jewish population primarily through the
construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land
while the second is to restrict Palestinian population
growth. Here, we should remember that Palestinians are
facing a serious housing crisis due to Israeli
restrictions on Palestinian building. This crisis is
likely to continue and even become more acute as there
is a high natural population growth among the
Palestinian population and a large anticipated growth
due to the return of Palestinian refugees. We estimate
that Palestinian Jerusalemites need, immediately,
between 40,000 and 50,000 new housing units.

The last issue
concerns the Israeli fears that the right of return for
Palestinians will affect the very existence of the State
of Israel by altering its demographic and cultural
make-up. This fear is rooted in the belief that
Israel is an exclusively Jewish State and any influx of
non-Jews is seen as a threat to its existence.
While the concern of the Israelis should be taken into
consideration, the inalienable right of Palestinians to
return to their properties and to their land must be
acknowledged. Moreover, it must be recognized that
failure to arrive at a just solution on the issue of
refugees will be a constant source of instability to the
whole region. Large numbers of Palestinian
refugees continue to live without a citizenship, without
security, and remain marginalized from the Peace Process
in general. The need of Palestinian refugees to
realize historic and legal claims to their property and
homeland is not fading and, if the rights of Palestinian
refugees is not handled appropriately, it can act as a
time bomb. We believe that Israel must accept the
principle of the Palestinian right of return before any
discussion on the matter is considered. This is the
preliminary step that must be taken if this issue is
ever to be approached.

In the past
two days, the issues of the borders around Jerusalem was
raised. For Palestinians, the western boundary of
eastern Jerusalem was established after the 1948 war.
The northern, eastern and southern boundaries, however,
will be delineated on the basis of Palestinian interests
and needs. These boundaries will be influenced by our
agreement with Israel on whether Jerusalem will become
divided again or not. If Jerusalem is to be divided,
then it is up to us Palestinians, alone, to decide the
extent of our Jerusalem. However, if Jerusalem is to be
undivided then its borders should be mutually agreed
upon to ensure that the political borders of East
Jerusalem are delineated in accordance with UN
Resolution 242 and 338.

If we are to
create an open Jerusalem, however, we must find a just
solution for Palestinian land claims in West Jerusalem.
The cumulative documentation of Palestinians property
owners indicate that some 70% of the land and property
in western Jerusalem is owned by Palestinians. However,
while Israeli laws allow any Jewish citizen to
re-possess former Jewish property in East Jerusalem and
encourages Jews to take up residency East Jerusalem,
Palestinians are denied any right to their properties in
West Jerusalem. It is thus inconceivable that Israel
could allow Jews to repossess property in East Jerusalem
while prohibiting Palestinians, who own the majority of
property in West Jerusalem, to do the same. This
is especially true considering that Jewish organizations
have undertaken great efforts to struggle for their
right to either return or receive restitution from
European countries for properties lost during the
Holocaust. What is right for one people must also
be right for another.

Here we come
to the complexities of the negotiations as we are now
working within two frameworks. The first one is defined
by UN Resolution 242 which calls for the withdrawal of
Israeli forces from the lands occupied in 1967, meaning
that Israel must fully withdraw from occupied East
Jerusalem. The second framework is that, not only the
international community, but the Palestinians in general
would not like to see a new Berlin Wall that divides the
city built in Jerusalem. Therefor, by these two
frameworks we would like to see an open Jerusalem with
two capitals: a Palestinian capital in the eastern side,
and an Israeli capital on the western side. From our
point of view the negotiations will work on the details
concerning relations between the western and eastern
side, including the establishment of a coordination
committee between the two municipalities, after the
political borders have been agreed upon.

We believe
that the only way to solve the problem of Jerusalem is
to give equal rights to all. Neither the Palestinians
nor the Israelis should deny the other the right to call
Jerusalem their capital. Moreover, safeguards for
preserving equality must be established to provide
safeguards for the three monotheistic religions
including Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. By the
same right, this must also extend to the national claims
of both the Palestinians and Israelis so that Jerusalem
will become the capital of their respective states.
These can be considered as the five pillars for building
a durable peace in Jerusalem, one weak pillar may cause
the whole to collapse. Together, we must make certain
that each is built on principals of justice and are
acceptable to each of the concerned parties.

Finally, if we
can find the formula that preserves the rights of
Muslims, Christians and Jews as well as the aspirations
of Palestinians and Israelis in Jerusalem, then we can
solve all the problems in the region and begin to take
real steps towards regional cooperation and peace. In
this scenario, Jerusalem would once again become the
warm sun of the Middle East.

On the other
hand if we fail, then Jerusalem will forever remain a
black hole in the Middle East, swallowing everything,
including the hope for peace that was created in the
past few years. The new Israeli government now has the
opportunity to choose the power of logic over the logic
of power and work to build the foundation for a genuine
peace. I hope they find the courage to choose
wisely and I hope that the international community will
stand behind us both as we take the next steps forward.